Sugar Cream Pie: Hoosier Heritage with European Roots

November 25, 2017

Across Indiana, small and large-scale bakeries sell a dessert known as sugar cream pie, a dish so common in the state (and so rare outside its borders) that its earned a firm place in Hoosier Heritage.A simple concoction of flour, butter, salt, vanilla, cream and, of course, lots of sugar, many claim it’s easy to bake but almost impossible to perfect.

The pie itself evolved from a Western European tradition, brought to the US by Dutch and German settlers who branched out into the belly of the US under a variety of names: the Quakers, the Amish, the Shakers and the Pennsylvania Dutch.Although other states lay claim to the sugar cream pie (aka maple pie, sugar pie or shoofly pie), but none better than Indiana.